Mike McConnell’s been telling his Facebook fans that technical issues are preventing him from doing his live stream (and subsequent podcast) on the WGNRadio.com website. His Facebook fans aren’t necessarily buying it.
Either way, McConnell’s last show was Thursday, Oct. 3. Later that afternoon, he wrote on his Facebook that there would be no Friday podcast, but that he’d be back on Monday. Three days in and nothing this week.
What kind of technical issues would keep McConnell from doing a live Internet stream for multiple days? It’s a fair question considering Jonathon Brandmeier has had zero problems with his live stream (which technically should operate no differently than McConnell’s — on the surface, Brandmeier’s stream is simply branded under the “WGN.FM” monicker while McConnell’s is not). Even if the problem was as simple as a faulty Internet connection from McConnell’s end in Cincinnati (where he does, from time to time, broadcast from), I doubt that would keep him off the air for more than a day.
I’m calling B.S. on the” technical issues.” Since being jettisoned from the WGN-AM 720 airwaves in early August, it’s seemed obvious that the station wanted him to just go away completely. There’s been no on air mentions or promotion of his move to the “WGN-2” stream channel on the station website, nor have his shows received promotion space on the WGNRadio.com home page.
On Aug. 20, Robert Feder reported that station management was attempting to negotiate an early settlement of his remaining two year contract, worth $50,000 a year. With such an ironclad contract, McConnell should have the easiest gig in the world. Would he be willing to walk away from such easy money, even if the lack of promotion, caller interaction or support from the station makes his time there miserable?
McConnell’s not my favorite news/talker in radio, but I still like his show more then I dislike it. Since moving to online-only, I’ve made an effort to listen to the podcast more regularly. The absence of commercials, news, traffic and weather were an added bonus.
While McConnell is yet to address today’s absence on his Facebook page, that hasn’t stopped his readers from speculating the possibility that he is now completely on the outs at WGN. Whether it has merit or not, one commenter wrote that after texting the station last night, he received a response hinting that McConnell was done.
The longer McConnell goes without commenting about anything on his Facebook, the more reason there is to speculate.
UPDATE at 2:40 pm – Mike’s posted an update on his Facebook a few minutes ago:
Sorry Likers – it’s been a busy day and as you can see no stream or podcast. You’re all pretty good guessers as to what in the world is going on and I’ll let you know as soon as I do. Thanks for staying in touch.
Definitely no longer just a technical problem…
